Tube packaging box

ABSTRACT

A tube packaging box is generally in the form of a box having an open top. The box includes a front board, a rear board, a bottom board, and two side boards such that the boards collectively form a rectangular receiving space. The front board is connected to a folding board. The folding board is extended to form a first folding section and a second folding section. With a tube positioned in the receiving space, the folding board is folded inwardly into the receiving space such that the first folding section of the folding board covers a top side of the tube and the second folding section is fit into and interposed between the tube and the rear board to have the second folding section simultaneously clamped by and between the tube and the rear board with two opposite edges of the first folding section abutting the tube.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a tube packaging box, andmore particularly to a tube packaging box that allows for quickpackaging and de-packaging a tube.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Sales of flexible tubes or hoses is generally conducted by firstordering tubes of desired diameter and length from a manufacturer andvarious packages that contain and hold therein different lengths of tubeare provided for easy purchase by consumers.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, to package a conventional flexible tube, thetube 1 is first wound to be in the form of a coil. And, then, a paperboard 2 is provided to cover outside and enclose the coil of the tube 1.The paper board 2 used to package the conventional tube 1 is generallyin the form of a planar board having two opposite ends that havegenerally circular arc contours with a slot 21 formed in a portion closeto each of the two ends. The paper board 2 is bent and folded such as tocover and enclose two opposite sides of the coiled tube 1, of which thetwo circular arc ends would match, in outer configuration, with thecoiled form of the tube 1. A plurality of fastening strips 3 is theninserted through the slots 21 to securely fasten and hold the tube 1 andthe paper board 2 together thereby having the tube 1 properly packagedwith the paper board 2. The tube 1 so packaged can be positioned flat onthe ground or on a top of a fixture, such as a table, for being viewedand purchased by consumers. Or, alternatively, as shown in FIG. 3, asupport bar 4 of an exhibition rack may extend through the coil of thetube 1 and the slots 21 of the paper board 2 to hold the tube 1 in asuspended fashion for exhibition and displaying.

Although the packaging paper board 2 is good for achieving the purposeof packaging a tube 1 that is wound in a coiled form, the packaging ofthe tube 1 with the packaging paper board 2 can only be achieved withthe additionally applied fastening strips 3. Using the fastening strips3 makes the component cost increased and also makes the operation timeof packaging extended. Further, consumers may wish the unwound thecoiled tube 1 for inspection before purchasing. One common way is to cutoff the fastening strips 3. However, the fastening strips 3, once cutoff, lose the original functionality thereof and cannot be reused. New,substitute fastening strips 3 must be used. This causes troubles to boththe salesperson and the consumers.

Thus, it is a challenge of those working in the art to make packagingand de-packaging of a tube 1 that has been wound in the form of a coileasy and efficient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a tube packaging box, of which anobject is to overcome the shortcomings of the conventional packages thatdoes not provide an easy way of packaging a length of tube that is woundin the form of a coil and are also hard to de-package.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a tubepackaging box. The tube packaging box of the present invention is suchthat the tube packaging box is generally in the form of a box having anopen top. The box comprises at least a front board, a rear board, abottom board, and two side boards such that the boards collectively forma rectangular receiving space. The front board is connected with afolding board. The folding board is extended to form a first foldingsection and a second folding section. Further, the rear board comprisesa portion extending from connections thereof with the two side boards tofor a circular arc contour such that the rear board has a height greaterthan a height of the two side boards.

The efficacy achieved with the technical solution adopted in the presentinvention is that when a tube is positioned in the receiving space ofthe present invention, the folding board can be folded inwardly into thereceiving space to allow the first folding section of the folding boardto cover a top side of the tube and a second folding section fit intoand embedded and interposed between the tube and a rear board so as tohave the second folding section simultaneously clamped by and betweenthe tube and the rear board, with two opposite lateral edges of thefirst folding section abutting against the tube, thereby efficientlyfixing the tube in the receiving space of the tube packaging boxaccording to the present invention. On the other hand, through liftingup the first folding section of the folding board, the second foldingsection is pulled out from between the tube and the rear board, makingthe tube on longer constrained by the folding board, and thus allowingthe tube to be easily removed out of the receiving space. As such, thepresent invention allows packaging and de-packaging of a tube to beconducted through an easy and efficient operation.

The foregoing objectives and summary provide only a brief introductionto the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects ofthe present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detaileddescription of the invention and the claims should be read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specificationand drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similarparts.

Many other advantages and features of the present invention will becomemanifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to thedetailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which apreferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of thepresent invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1 and 2 are schematic views illustrating a conventional tubepackage.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating an application of the tubepackage of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing an application of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing the application of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing another application of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are notintended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of theinvention in any way. Rather, the following description provides aconvenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of theinvention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made inthe function and arrangement of the elements described without departingfrom the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Firstly, referring to FIG. 4, the present invention provides a tubepackaging box, which is generally in the form of a box 5 having an opentop. The box 5 comprises at least a front board 51, a rear board 52, abottom board 53, and two side boards 54 such that the boardscollectively form a rectangular receiving space 55.

The front board 51 is also connected to a folding board 56. The foldingboard 56 is extended to form, at least, a first folding section 561 anda second folding section 562. The first folding section 561 starts at aportion or an edge of the front board 51 that is lower, in a verticaldirection, than an upper end of the two side boards 54 such that aconnection thereof with the front board 51 forms a fold. The firstfolding section 561 has a length that corresponds a width of a spaceformed between the front board 51 and the rear board 52. The secondfolding section 562 has an end connected to the first folding section561 such that connection thereof with the first folding section 561 forma fold, allowing for folding therebetween. The second folding section562 has a length that is not greater than a height between theconnection of the first folding section 561 with the front board 51 andthe bottom board 53. The rear board 52 comprises a portion extendingupward from connections thereof with the two side boards 54 to form anarc contour such that the rear board 52 has an overall height that isgreater than heights of the two side boards 54.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, in an application of the present invention,the folding board 56 is opened first and a flexible tube 6 that has beenwound in the form of a coil is positioned into the receiving space 55.Next, the folding board 56 is folded inwardly into the receiving space55 to be fit therein such that the first folding section 561 of thefolding board 56 is folded into the receiving space 55 and covers a topside of the tube 6 to further allow the second folding section 562 to befolded and fit into a location between the tube 6 and the rear board 52,whereby the second folding section 562 is interposed between andretained by both the tube 6 and the rear board 52, while two oppositelateral edges of the first folding section 561 are respectivelypositioned against or in contact engagement with two opposite sites ofthe tube 6. In the way, with the folding board 56 being fit andretained, the present invention allows the tube 6 to quickly retainedand fixed in the receiving space 55, such that the present invention mayachieve packaging of the tube 6 without assistance made with otheraccessory parts. Further, in an embodiment, the second folding section562 may have a width that is slightly greater than a width of the firstfolding section 561 so that the greater width of the second foldingsection 562 increases a contact area thereof with the tube 6 and therear board 52 for clamping thereby enhancing the effect of clamping andimproving the result of fixing the tube 6 with the present invention.Further, the rear board 52 is extended upward from the connectionthereof with the two side boards 54 to form a circular arc contour, andsuch a circular arc contour of the rear board 52 may be made matching anouter configuration of the coil formed by winding the tube 6 so thatafter being packaged, the tube 6 is positioned on the rear board 52 suchthat the two exhibit similar or identical outer contour or configurationthereby providing an enhanced overall configuration after packaging.

On the other hand, when it is desired to de-package the tube 6 that hasbeen packaged according to the present invention, it only needs to liftup the first folding section 561 of the folding board 56 so as to havethe second folding section 562 to be pulled out from the locationbetween the tube 6 and the rear board 52. Consequently, the tube 6 is nolonger constrained by the folding board 56 and thus, the tube 6 can beeasily removed out of the receiving space 55. As such, a de-packagingoperation can be performed very efficiently and does not cause anydamage to any part of the present invention, allowing the presentinvention to be reused.

Referring to FIG. 7, in a different application of the presentinvention, a hollowed section 521 can be formed in the rear board 52according to the present invention. With the hollowed section 521 soformed, when the coiled tube is to be suspended on an exhibition rack, asupport bar 7 of the exhibition rack is allowed to extend through thehollowed section to support the tube 6 thereon in a suspended fashionthereby achieving a purpose of suspended exhibition. Further, thehollowed section 521 is preferably formed to have at least an upper partthereof in the form of a circular arc so that the circular arc hollowedsection 521, in addition to helping suspend the tube for exhibition,matches, in outside configuration, with the coiled tube 6 to providebetter visual perception.

The efficacy of the present invention is that the present inventionprovides a front board 51 that is connected with a folding board 56, sothat when a tube 6 is positioned in a receiving space 55 of the presentinvention, the folding board 56 can be folded inwardly into thereceiving space 55 to allow a first folding section 561 of the foldingboard 56 to cover a top side of the tube 6 and a second folding section562 fit into and embedded and interposed between the tube 6 and a rearboard 52 so as to have the second folding section 562 simultaneouslyclamped by and between the tube 6 and the rear board 52, with twoopposite lateral edges of the first folding section 561 abutting againstthe tube 6, thereby efficiently fixing the tube 6 in the receiving space55 of the tube packaging box according to the present invention and thepresent invention and the tube 6 combined together. On the other hand,through lifting up the first folding section 561 of the folding board 5,the second folding section 562 is pulled out from between the tube 6 andthe rear board 52, making the tube 6 on longer constrained by thefolding board 56, and thus allowing the tube 6 to be easily removed outof the receiving space 55. With such an arrangement, the presentinvention allows a tube 6 to be packaged and de-packaged in an easy andefficient way, requiring no additional assistive accessary to help thepackaging operation and not damaging any part of the present inventionso as to allow the present invention to be reused.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together may also find a useful application in other types ofmethods differing from the type described above.

While certain novel features of this invention have been shown anddescribed and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intendedto be limited to the details above, since it will be understood thatvarious omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the formsand details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be madeby those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the claimsof the present invention.

I claim:
 1. A tube packaging box, which is generally in the form of abox having an open top, comprising a front board, a rear board, a bottomboard, and the two side boards such that the boards collectively form areceiving space, wherein the front board comprises a folding boardconnected thereto, the folding board being extended to form at least afirst folding section and a second folding section connected to an endof the first folding section.
 2. The tube packaging box according toclaim 1, wherein the first folding section of the folding board and thefront board defines a foldable connection therebetween.
 3. The tubepackaging box according to claim 1, wherein the first folding section ofthe folding board has a length substantially corresponding to a width ofa space between the front board and the rear board.
 4. The tubepackaging box according to claim 1, wherein the first folding section ofthe folding board starts from a portion of the front board that islower, in position, than upper ends of the two side boards.
 5. The tubepackaging box according to claim 1, wherein the second folding sectionof the folding board defines a foldable connection with respect to thefirst folding section.
 6. The tube packaging box according to claim 1,wherein the second folding section of the folding board has a lengththat is not greater than a height between the connection of the firstfolding section with the front board and the bottom board.
 7. The tubepackaging box according to claim 1, wherein the second folding sectionof the folding board has a width that is greater than a width of thefirst folding section.
 8. The tube packaging box according to claim 1,wherein the rear board comprises a portion extending from connectionsthereof with the two side boards to form a circular arc contour suchthat the rear board has a height greater than a height of the two sideboards.
 9. The tube packaging box according to claim 1, wherein the rearboard comprises a hollowed section formed therein.
 10. The tubepackaging box according to claim 9, wherein the hollowed section has anupper part that comprises a circular arc.